What you need to know
Good morning and welcome to the national news blog.
Here’s the top headlines from Australia and around the globe:
- Police are ready to arrest multiple women with links to Islamic State when they arrive in Australia tonight. Four women and nine children are expected to touch down in Sydney and Melbourne.
- Iran said it was reviewing a new US proposal, after sources said Washington and Tehran were closing in on a one-page memorandum to end the war. President Donald Trump said the US has had “very good talks with Iran” in the last 24 hours, and “it’s very possible that we’ll make a deal”, hours after threatening to resume bombing Iran if it did not agree.
- An American fighter jet shot out the rudder of an Iranian oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman as it tried to breach a blockade, US Central Command said.
- Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs for the first time since a ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group was announced on April 17. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the strike targeted a commander in Hezbollah’s Radwan Force.
- Australia’s reserves of diesel and jet fuel will be boosted to 50 days of average use under a $10 billion funding package.
- Nationals leader Matt Canavan has vowed to run the “mother of all campaigns” against the cancellation of half of the Inland Rail project.
Trump says Iran deal ‘very possible’ after threat to resume bombing
US President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday (Washington time) that the US has had “very good talks with Iran” in the last 24 hours.
“It’s very possible that we’ll make a deal,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
“This is very simple: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.”
Hours earlier, Trump wrote in a social media post: “If they don’t agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before.”
US jet fires on Iranian oil tanker
The US military has fired on an Iranian oil tanker as President Donald Trump sought to pressure Tehran into reaching a deal to end the war.
An American fighter jet shot out the rudder of the tanker in the Gulf of Oman as it tried to breach a blockade of Iran’s ports, US Central Command Z(CENTCOM) said.
CENTCOM said American forces “issued multiple warnings” to the Iranian-flagged M/T Hasna, before disabling the rudder “by firing several rounds from the 20mm cannon gun of a US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet” launched from USS Abraham Lincoln. “Hasna is no longer transiting to Iran.”
AP
US and Iran closing in on ‘one-page memo’ to end war: sources
Islamabad/Washington/Tel Aviv: Iran said on Wednesday it was reviewing a new US proposal, after sources said Washington and Tehran were closing in on a one-page memorandum to end the war in the Gulf while leaving tricky issues such as Iran’s nuclear program for later.
An Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, cited by Iran’s ISNA news agency, said Iran would convey its response soon via Pakistan, which hosted the war’s only peace talks and has since served as the main conduit for messages between the sides.
In an early morning social media post, US President Donald Trump gave no details of any specific proposal but said the war could end if “Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to”. He later told the New York Post it was still too soon to consider face-to-face meetings to sign an agreement.
A Pakistani source and another source briefed on the mediation confirmed information initially reported by the US media outlet Axios about a proposed 14-point, one-page memorandum that would formally end the war.
What you need to know
Good morning and welcome to the national news blog.
Here’s the top headlines from Australia and around the globe:
- Police are ready to arrest multiple women with links to Islamic State when they arrive in Australia tonight. Four women and nine children are expected to touch down in Sydney and Melbourne.
- Iran said it was reviewing a new US proposal, after sources said Washington and Tehran were closing in on a one-page memorandum to end the war. President Donald Trump said the US has had “very good talks with Iran” in the last 24 hours, and “it’s very possible that we’ll make a deal”, hours after threatening to resume bombing Iran if it did not agree.
- An American fighter jet shot out the rudder of an Iranian oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman as it tried to breach a blockade, US Central Command said.
- Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs for the first time since a ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group was announced on April 17. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the strike targeted a commander in Hezbollah’s Radwan Force.
- Australia’s reserves of diesel and jet fuel will be boosted to 50 days of average use under a $10 billion funding package.
- Nationals leader Matt Canavan has vowed to run the “mother of all campaigns” against the cancellation of half of the Inland Rail project.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
